Well China does have a history with this sort of thing. The Opium wars lead to what China calls the century of humiliation which is still a defining characteristic in their global outlook.

More info here : https://youtu.be/xD1nDGeiSAs

I think the comment about China was a way to highlight that a country with no Christian back ground (and thus no history of a Protestant Work Ethic) bans drugs. It is a round about way of point out that the PWE is not the only reason drugs are illegal.

While it is a complex socio-political issue, there is a valid position that China has parallel cultural norms - political structures that maintain significant control over the private sphere, a high social premium placed on order and low individualism.

It makes sense that a society with those values, along with Confucian history, would ban drugs.

China bans drugs because the US exported their drug laws via the UN. Perhaps you could find a better example.